As consumers continue to search for healthier food options, vegetables as star players in formulations are enjoying a renaissance. Value-added vegetable products are crowding onto grocery store shelves, supermarket fresh bars, and restaurant menus throughout the US.

Protein has powerful appeal. Interest in dietary protein intake and the protein content in a range of foods and drinks continues to develop. Consider too that more consumers are aware of different protein sources and their potential benefits.

Vegetarianism and flexitarianism continue to grow in popularity, driven by health concerns as well as demand for greater sustainability and animal welfare. This means that alternative protein ingredients will continue to be of high interest to consumers, and therefore also to food and beverage formulators.

With the recent jump in home cooking, the role of flavor has been especially magnified as food serves a magnified role in providing excitement, comfort, health, indulgence, self-care, and family bonding. All this means a new spice boom in 2021. Spice manufacturers have seen a dramatic spike in demand for their products.

Precisely pairing aroma, flavor, texture, mouthfeel — and even aftertaste — can go a long way toward developing an optimal system for achieving the desired specifications and features of a successful drink. The variety of refined and/or clean-label ingredients to accomplish this task has expanded significantly over the past decade, allowing for more formulation possibilities and user experiences.

The growth in sales of natural food colorants is expected to continue growing strong. The food color market reached $2.85B at the end of last year (about double the 2015 figures), and boasts a CAGR of nearly 6%. In a reversal of the previous decade, natural colors now comprise 69% of the market, and multiple sources expect sales of natural colorants to land between $3B and $3.5B or higher by 2027, exhibiting a CAGR of between 8-12% or greater.

Color is arguably the most important initial sensory cue we get from a food or beverage. It helps us almost immediately make a preliminary judgement about the desirability, quality, and palatability of what we plan to eat or drink. If the color of an item is “wrong” or off, it can drive the consumer away from even the tastiest treat.

Prepared cooking sauces remain popular for consumers and represent a $190 million category; up +6% versus prior year (Nielsen: Total U.S. x AOC 52 Weeks Ending 4/25/20). With exception of 2020’s shelter-in-place, Americans are spending less time preparing meals at home and cooking sauces represent a convenient alternative to creating recipes from scratch.

Consumer commitment to reduce sugar consumption continues to drive industry opportunities to develop non-nutritive sweeteners that perform and taste like table sugar. Blending nutritive sweeteners with high-intensity sweeteners (HIS) has become the standard, with stevia being the common go-to, typically in blends with everything from corn-derived sucrose or dextrose to maltose or tapioca sugar, or recent arrivals like coconut sugar.

From sweet pastry fillings to savory almond-and-rice mixes, food scientists should be aware of all the unique processed versions of fruits and nuts and the applications that they work best in. Handling these often delicate ingredients with care will ensure optimal presentation as well as safety and flavor quality for the duration of that application’s shelf life.